Alternate reality

Ad blocker interference detected!

Wikia is a free-to-use site that makes money from advertising. We have a modified experience for viewers using ad blockers

Wikia is not accessible if you’ve made further modifications. Remove the custom ad blocker rule(s) and the page will load as expected.

This article refers to the general concept of alternate realities, for the timeline of the 2009 movie Star Trek see Kelvin timeline, for other specific timelines see listings below.

An alternate reality (which may also be referred to as an alternate quantum reality, alternate timeline or parallel timeline) is a divergent timeline, a distinct branch in any one universe. The terms "alternate universe" or "parallel universe" are sometimes also used to refer to alternate realities, however such usage is inaccurate; a universe is a distinct separate place, divided from other universes by higher dimensions (and may have its own alternate timelines), while an alternate reality is merely a different quantum facet of any one universe, with the same laws of physics, just different histories. (VOY - Myriad Universesnovel: Places of Exile)

Other cultures have exhibited far greater knowledge and even control of the timelines. The Sphere Builders had technology which allowed them to examine timelines. When they were manipulating the Xindi into trying to destroy Earth in the 2150s, they could see when the actions of the starship Enterprise were generating more timelines with unfavorable outcomes for themselves and acted to try and alter the flow of the events to something they preferred. (ENTepisodes: "Azati Prime", "Zero Hour")

In 2376, Iliana Ghemor, driven mad by years of captivity and believing that she was Kira Nerys, devised a plan to travel to as many alternate realities as she could access and kill all other Kira Nerys, determined that she would be the only one. (DS9novel: Warpath)

By the 29th centuryStarfleet had an advanced knowledge of time travel and alternate realities and employed temporal agents to monitor them. One agent, CaptainBraxton became aware of massive event that literally destroyed the galaxy; he could not determine what caused the event due to the temporal chaos surrounding it, but could see that only timeline in which the Federation no longer existed survived it. In trying to undo the catastrophe and save as many timelines as possible Braxton made alterations through time, including attempting to sabotage the Khitomer Accords. (TNG - The Last Generationcomic: "The End of History")

Later that year, the removal of Benjamin Sisko from normal space-time created an alternate timeline in which Jake Sisko spent the rest of his life trying to get his father back. In this timeline, the Federation-Klingon War intensified following Captain Sisko's disappearance, resulting in the Federation's withdrawal from Deep Space 9 and the existence of poor relations between the two former allies well into the 25th century. Furthermore, Jadzia Dax was still alive in 2422 and the Dominion War never took place. (DS9episode: "The Visitor")

In one timeline, Captain Braxton believed that Voyager would be responsible for accidentally destroying Earth in the 29th century, and attempted to prevent this by destroying Voyager first. (VOYepisode: "Future's End")

In 2376, an alternate timeline was created in which the Borg successfully assimilated Ambassador Spock, leading to the destruction of Starfleet Command and the assimilation of Earth. (TNGvideo game: Armada)

In one timeline, Kes traveled back in time from 2376 to 2371, where she attempted to turn Voyager over to the Vidiians. (VOYepisode: "Fury")

In one version related to this timeline, the Dewans developed warp engines and rose to power. They conquered most of the Beta Quadrant but a forced back by Vulcans who never embraced Surakian logic. The Vulcan Star Empire enslaved what in the primary timeline was Federation and Klingon space. Because the Hur'q never developed warp drive at all, Qo'noS was not invaded. When the Vulcans encountered the Klingons in the 22nd century, they found them a primitive farmer culture with some advances in epic poetry. By the present day of the simulation, the Vulcan Star Empire was embroiled in a to-the-death-struggle with the Dominion.

Because removing the Iconians would have proved disastrous, Alteration Alpha sought to delay their invasion by 700 years, until the 32nd century. In this timeline, the Klingons were not unified, and embroiled with a war with the Romulans and the Federation. The Alpha Quadrant powers were so weakened that the Dominion took local space in a brutal assault that left major worlds in ashes. On stardate 87319.0, they reached Earth.

When the KIS Annorax was deployed to change the timeline, the simulation showed that Romulus was not destroyed in the Hobus event. In reality, the timeline changed so that the Borg Collective conquered the Romulan Star Empire and had assimilated Romulus.

Diagram showing the prime reality in relation to the alternate reality of the movie Star Trek

The majority of Star Trek stories take place in "prime reality", a singular timeline which runs from the present day through to all the Star Trek series. The prime reality has generated numerous alternate timelines, though these normally are only explored for the duration of one story. One major exception is the "mirror universe", which has been developed in multiple stories across multiple series (so much so in fact that a number of alternate mirror universes have even been seen). The 2009movieStar Trek saw a significant movement in the Star Trek universe, with the film establishing a new alternate reality, which rather than being "repaired" back to the prime universe has become the new leading edge of the franchise, with new movies to be set in the continuation of this timeline rather than the original prime timeline. Meanwhile stories from across the franchise continue to be told in both the prime and new timeline, and in the Myriad Universes series even in other alternate timelines.

In his annotations for Places of Exile, Christopher L. Bennett postulates a rationalization for why divergent timelines, even centuries after the point of divergence, manage to generate the same characters, settings and scenarios, even when the same settings recurring so similarly are so improbable: Bennett suggests that because a being in a different timeline is merely one outcome for the same matter that "the physical connection across different timelines means that there can be a sort of quantum resonance: the shared "inertia" of different quantum facets of the same being causes their lives -- and their genetics -- to develop along similar lines"